Open Polytechnic of New Zealand starts work on the CNCC - Feb 2007

Open Polytechnic of New Zealand (OPNZ), the only institution in New Zealand to offer soley distance learning tertiary education, is starting work on the initial stages of the CNCC project. OPNZ is keen to work together with other international educational institutions to promote Open Source and Open Content initiatives, as demonstrated by its lead on some key government-funded projects in New Zealand: Open Source VLE, E-learning Networked Education (Moodle deployments) and the Educational Resources NZ project. The first stages of the project will look at evaluating and taking stock of current Open ICDL materials, and OPNZ is setting out some guidelines and 'tools' in Wikieducator for participant institutions to take part and work as a collaborative virtual team on the project. This is an international project with the following regions taking responsibility for the development of specific modules:

Caribbean: The University of West Indies (UWI) Distance Education Centre (DEC), better known as UWIDEC, Jamaica.

North America: World campus, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State).

OPNZ sees this as an exciting way for educational providers in countries which need to manage fewer resources to really benefit from the collaboration of knowledge and experience. Its also a great way for teams to learn from each other and develop skills for future open content projects.

The OPNZ team is eager that other institutions come onboard and work together to achieve the timelines set out by COL. They look forward to meeting participants online soon!